Focal
Naim Audio
Harman
Technics
![Carlo Lo Raso headshot](https://magazine.hometheaterhifi.com/assets/2023/01/carlo-lo-raso-headshot.jpg)
Welcome Friends!
e are pleased to present to you the 2023 edition of the Secrets Audio/Video Showcase. We launched this new method of product information and outreach last year and experienced a great response from our readers and industry friends with many compliments. Our second edition features all-new products and editorial content for your reading pleasure. We hope you enjoy scrolling through the oversize interactive pages and absorbing all the wonderful visual and technical content.
If you are a manufacturer, we invite you to be a part of the 2023 Secrets A/V Showcase. We can continue to add content and update the issue throughout the year, and we would love to have you join the growing list of participants.
As the last couple of years have certainly been trying ones worldwide, our abiding wish for 2023 is really just a simple request. We hope this year brings us all a little closer together and that we can find some more of those special moments, wherever we are, to enjoy the music we love in the manner we choose.
Onward and upward!
![Carlo Lo Raso signature](https://magazine.hometheaterhifi.com/assets/2023/01/carlo-sig.png)
Editor-in-Chief
Focal
![1604964033313 Romain Vet Headshot](https://magazine.hometheaterhifi.com/assets/2022/04/Romain.jpg)
Both are recognized as exceptional brands in their countries: Naim is a multiple Queen’s Award winner, while Focal is designated by the French state as an ‘Entreprise du Patrimoine Vivant’. Together, they have united their unique areas of excellence and innovation and constitute a reference point in the world.
Focal Vestia High-Fidelity Loudspeakers
![1604964033313 Romain Vet Headshot](https://magazine.hometheaterhifi.com/assets/2022/04/Romain.jpg)
Both are recognized as exceptional brands in their countries: Naim is a multiple Queen’s Award winner, while Focal is designated by the French state as an ‘Entreprise du Patrimoine Vivant’. Together, they have united their unique areas of excellence and innovation and constitute a reference point in the world.
Naim New Classic 200 Series
Designed and engineered by specialists in England, the New Classic range is crafted with care and built to last. Sophisticated yet simple to use, these timeless products aim to bring you years of listening pleasure.
Whether you have known Naim Audio for 50 years, five minutes, or anything in between, we Welcome you to the next milestone in our – and your – musical journey.
![Jim Garret](https://magazine.hometheaterhifi.com/assets/2023/01/1571263617508.jpeg)
HARMAN International
The JBL L75ms
![Michiko Ogawa](https://magazine.hometheaterhifi.com/assets/2023/01/Michiko-Ogawa.jpg)
SA-C600 Networking Digital Integrated Amp/Streamer/CD Player
We Need a New OPPO…NOW!
![Oppo receiver with blue overlay and what looks like lipstick that says please come back with kisses and hearts](https://magazine.hometheaterhifi.com/assets/2022/12/1400-x-600-Header-Image.jpg)
am annoyed.
That’s not really anything new, I get annoyed with a great many things on a seemingly more regular basis. But to you know-it-alls and naysayers out there that insist physical media is dead and streaming is king, you can just stuff it as far as I’m concerned. I like and continue to buy physical media and I demand someone make a high-quality device to play it all, properly and with excellent results. The last company to make a player that came close to doing it all was OPPO.
Speaker Isolation, The Tweak That Actually Works
![Close up of speaker feet at bottom of speaker](https://magazine.hometheaterhifi.com/assets/2022/12/figure-1-Speaker-Isolation.jpg)
n HiFi, many tweaks claim to improve sound quality, but the isolation of speakers and their component parts is one that truly makes an audible difference.
To Subwoof or Not to Subwoof
![Close up of speaker feet at bottom of speaker](https://magazine.hometheaterhifi.com/assets/2022/12/sub-feature.webp)
What is the purpose of a Subwoofer?
ubwoofers make deep bass. Specifically, a good subwoofer will deliver bass that can enhance speakers from 120 Hz down to 32 Hz or deeper. Some of the better subwoofers can deliver bass to 20 Hz, with the largest capable of going as deep as 5 Hz in a proper room. This wide variety of frequency limits for various subwoofers can cause a lot of confusion. Add to this the hype that frequents the arena of subwoofers, and many people just don’t want to bother.
SECRETS Recommended Gear
elcome to our new Secrets Recommended Gear! Here you will find an annually updated list of component recommendations brought to you from our staff, encompassing every product category that we cover. Not simply just our Best of the Year Award choices, but long term recommendations that will be chosen from products that we’ve actually reviewed and found compelling enough to place them on this list. Once a product is chosen it will remain on the Recommended Gear list until it is discontinued by the manufacturer. An archive of each year’s list will remain on the Secrets Website for those shopping for used gear and wanting to research older choices.
Products chosen will fit into one of these 4 tiers:
![Essential icon](https://magazine.hometheaterhifi.com/assets/2022/04/secrets-reco-icon-_0000_essential.png)
Essential
![Superior icon](https://magazine.hometheaterhifi.com/assets/2022/04/secrets-reco-icon-_0003_superior.png)
Superior
![Reference Icon](https://magazine.hometheaterhifi.com/assets/2022/04/secrets-reco-icon-_0002_reference.png)
Reference
![Elite icon](https://magazine.hometheaterhifi.com/assets/2022/04/secrets-reco-icon-_0001_elite.png)
Elite
![Collage of featured audio products](https://magazine.hometheaterhifi.com/assets/2021/11/secrets-rec-featured-v3.jpg)
![Perlisten Logo](https://magazine.hometheaterhifi.com/assets/2022/04/PERLISTEN_logo_payoff.png)
![](/assets/2023/01/secrets-recommended-gear-2023.png)
![](/assets/2022/04/secrets-reco-icon-_0001_elite.png)
![Paradigm Logo](https://magazine.hometheaterhifi.com/assets/2021/10/paradigm-logo-white-2.png)
![Aperion logo](https://magazine.hometheaterhifi.com/assets/2023/01/logo-_0003_aperion.png)
![SVS Logo](https://magazine.hometheaterhifi.com/assets/2021/11/logos-_0001_svs.png)
![Anthem logo](https://magazine.hometheaterhifi.com/assets/2023/01/logo-_0004_anthem.png)
![Martin Logan Logo](https://magazine.hometheaterhifi.com/assets/2021/10/logos-_0001_martin-logan-logo-w.png)
![NAD Logo](https://magazine.hometheaterhifi.com/assets/2021/10/logos-_0000_download.png)
![DALI logo](https://magazine.hometheaterhifi.com/assets/2021/10/logos-_0002_download.png)
![Pass Labs Logo](https://magazine.hometheaterhifi.com/assets/2021/10/pass-logo.png)
![Benchmark media logo](https://magazine.hometheaterhifi.com/assets/2022/04/secrets-market-_0001_Benchmark-Logo.png)
![Legacy audio logo](https://magazine.hometheaterhifi.com/assets/2022/04/secrets-market-_0000_Legacy-Logo-Transparent-Background.png)
![Focal logo](https://magazine.hometheaterhifi.com/assets/2022/04/focal-logo2.png)
![BenQ Logo](https://magazine.hometheaterhifi.com/assets/2022/04/0005_BenQ-logo.png)
![Bluesound logo](https://magazine.hometheaterhifi.com/assets/2022/04/0004_bluesound-wordmark-white.png)
![HiFiman logo](https://magazine.hometheaterhifi.com/assets/2022/04/0003_hifiman.png)
![Technics logo](https://magazine.hometheaterhifi.com/assets/2023/01/logo-_0000_technics.png)
![Sound United logo](https://magazine.hometheaterhifi.com/assets/2023/01/soundunited-logo.png)
![PSB logo](https://magazine.hometheaterhifi.com/assets/2022/04/0000_PSB_Speakers.png)
![Naim logo](https://magazine.hometheaterhifi.com/assets/2023/01/naim-logo.png)
![Harman logo](https://magazine.hometheaterhifi.com/assets/2023/01/logo-_0002_harman.png)
Carlo Lo Raso
John E. Johnson, Jr.
Chris Eberle
Jim Clements
Robert Kozel
Chris Groppi
David A Rich
Jim Milton
Glenn Young
Piero Gabucci
Craig Chase
Doug Pyper
Francisco Licon
Gene Hopstetter
Indiana Lang
Jason Crawford, aka “Georgia”
Jay Haider
Kieran Coghlan
Mel Martin
Michael Jude Galvin
Peter Lo Raso
Rick Schmidt
Taps Das
Todd Cooperider
Tyler Stripko
Yongki Go
Brian Florian
Sumit Chawla
![Secrets of Home Theater and Hifi logo](https://magazine.hometheaterhifi.com/assets/2021/10/secrets-logo-white.png)